HD DVD or BluRay?

My cousin got herself a nice HD TV, and I think she is giving me subtle hints that might want some kind of HD media player to go with it for Christmas. And when I say subtle hints I mean, she flat out told me. Unfortunately there are currently two formats on the market and neither one of them wants to die. Best idea would probably be to hold off and see which one becomes a standard. But, if you had to buy one before the end of the year, which would it be?

I’m leaning towards HD DVD because both the players and the media are cheaper, and it doesn’t involve Sony – the most evil company of the years. But then again, I could buy her a PS3 which is more of an entertainment system rather than just a pure game console anyway, and then “borrow it” from time to time :twisted:. Especially since I desperately want to play Assassins Creed and it definitely won’t run on my computer. Heh…

Note that there is no “none of the above” option cause I kinda want to see which one is more popular. So even if you are not planing to buy one, which one do you think is going to win the format war? Which one would you like to win?

Lastly, does anyone here own a HD player? Which one did you buy? What brand? Are you happy with it? Do you have any suggestions for someone shopping around for a HD player?

15 Responses to HD DVD or BluRay?

I think I would have to choose hd-dvd only because of Sony’s past history (I lived through the the whole Beta/VHS wars).

Sony has a bad habit of making their stuff to proprietary. Their product where always superior, but they were all Sony-only products. I had many of their innovations (betamax, digital tape, digital disc) and just loved them, but all of them were only available from Sony.

Hd-dvd isn’t doing much better as far as an open format, but I will still take it over Bluray. Then again, I also own an XBox 360, which only supports hd-dvd.

HD DVD is also region free (you can import some HD DVDs that are Blu-ray exclusive elsewhere), it doesn’t have additional BD+ restrictions, every player can play back advanced content, internet connectivity is mandatory on players, there are combo discs with DVD on a side, it requires at least a Dolby Digital Plus track instead of just Dolby Digital, and it has exclusives from Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, Nickelodeon Movies, MTV Films, DreamWorks, and The Weinstein Company.

Blu-ray has more capacity to date and will always have more capacity per layer, lossless audio tracks are much more common, and it has exclusives from Sony, MGM, Disney, 20th Century Fox, and Lionsgate.

Unfortunately there are currently two formats on the market

I’m enjoying high definition movies today, and the fact that there are two formats doesn’t bother me any.

Would I be right if I said most of the bellyaching about HD DVD and Blu-ray on the internet is by people who have neither?

(To nitpick, there’s no hyphen in HD DVD and Blu-ray doesn’t have an E.)

I guess a big problem right now is that some movie studios only want to support a single format. I have no clue why they would want to do that because releasing the same movie in 3 formats would let them maximize the profits.

Would I be right if I said most of the bellyaching about HD DVD and Blu-ray on the internet is by people who have neither?

Guilty . . .

I have a 36″ CRT that just fits my entertainment system. I really don’t have a place for a flat-panel. Besides I really can’t justify purchasing all new stuff. The only item I have that supports HD is my XBox360 . . . and I can just connect that to my computer monitor if I wanted HD.

I guess people who have neither are most vocal because they are trying to decide which one to buy. There are hybrid drives out there but they cost over 1k which is more than most people are willing to pay these days.

Those who already have a HD player are invested in one of the platforms, and will naturally support it over the other.

@Fred – there is nothing on dreamhoststatus.com but I believe the shared server I’m on is under a really heavy load. The load average is shooting up to 30 right now, and it doesn’t go below 10 which is not a good sign.

I guess someone is getting dugg, slashdotted or something like that. For a change, I don’t think it’s me.

The load average should be below however many CPU cores you have… So for a single core, single CPU server it should be under 1.0; a dual core, single CPU should be under 2.0 and a quad core, dual CPU server should be under 8.0, etc.

The DRM in HD-DVD is more fully (and easily) broken. If you have to get one, thats what I’d recommend, that way you can shift the medium easier.

If I could recommend anything, get a cheap PC on one end with a DVD player. Then you get DVD upscaling, and you can use stuff like Miro an Joost. If you feel adventerous, get a capture card, run all your connections through it, and set up MythTV or something similar (sage, mediaportal, etc). Nothing looks better than pure 1080p DVI-out to a nice tv. Then you get your game machine (PC) attached to the nice tv.

If you’d rather get a more “consumer” device, get a nice DVD player with upscaling and HDMI output. They run for $60-70, use the extra money you save to buy a bunch of DVDs. Upscaled DVDs look pretty good.

@jambarama: Upscaling is awful. Have you actually tried watching a DVD on a native 1080p display (like a 24″ monitor)? It doesn’t look that good… It’s watchable, from a distance, but a good 720p or 1080p version of whatever you’re watching is so much better :)

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